Former Rite Aid CEO Seen Pleading Guilty

According to a report, Martin Grass will enter the plea just ahead of his scheduled trial.

Martin Grass, the former CEO of Rite Aid ( RAD), is expected to enter a guilty plea Tuesday, just before he was scheduled to be tried on 35 criminal counts related to the drugstore chain's accounting scandal, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, said Grass would probably enter a guilty plea at the U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pa. The report indicated that it wasn't clear which charges the guilty plea would cover.

Grass left the company in 1999. Earlier this month , Frank Bergonzi, Rite Aid's former financial chief, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and said he would help prosecutors.

Former vice chairman Franklin Brown is also facing charges, as is another executive, Eric Sorkin. The charges stemmed from a restatement of Rite Aid's 1998 and 1999 income, in which the company overstated its earnings by $1.6 billion.

Shares of Rite Aid were lately up 38 cents, or 9%, at $4.40 on the New York Stock Exchange.